Hi. Were there two ways of making a 5 in 19th century documents? In family military records from the 1885? enlistment, the supposed 5 looks like an s that has been vertically stretched so that it is taller than the rest of the numerals and the top and bottom "curves" are nearly straightened out. By sleuthing through this document where the addition of sums are made, I think that this would have to be a 5. However, at other places in the document the 5 looks just like we would make it today in the US.

The handwriting style from the 1700s and 1800s differs somewhat from the style today. Usually, when a double s occurs in a word, it is easily confused with a lower case f. When a double s does occur, often the first s is elongated and the second is the short s we use today. However, they may also appear with the first being short and the second being elongated.
(From link below)

helva wrote:Hi. Were there two ways of making a 5 in 19th century documents? In family military records from the 1885? enlistment, the supposed 5 looks like an s that has been vertically stretched so that it is taller than the rest of the numerals and the top and bottom "curves" are nearly straightened out. By sleuthing through this document where the addition of sums are made, I think that this would have to be a 5. However, at other places in the document the 5 looks just like we would make it today in the US.